Heikai
by Antitime
Summary: Events taking place between tragedies are often left to the imagination. Oneshots. Next up: Anko doesn’t understand love or hate. She doesn’t understand a lot of things, he thinks. SanninAnkoKonanNagatoYahiko
1. ZakuKin: Dead

Hi gaiz, this is Anti, starting a fantabulously new story of random oneshots called Heikai (Closure) which basically centers around events that could have happened but weren't seen in the anime or manga, or daily mundane interactions. It contains random pairings, ranging from cannon to crack, because that's me for you.

First up is a rather depressing Zaku/Kin oneshot :D

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be writing FANfiction. And it would be crackier. And with more threesomes. Yus.

* * *

Sillouetted through the door were the profiles of two women- a Konoha nurse and Kin Tsuchi, her hand touching her head gingerly. They spoke in hushed tones. Zaku didn't know what they were saying, but he could identify his teammate's cold tone and the other woman's obvious pity. 

He clenched his hands- what was left of them, and gave a yelp of pain. There was a hush from the other side of the door. Hurriedly, he closed his eyes and laid still. Perhaps if he played dead, they'd leave him alone, allow him to suffer in peace.

No. The door creaked open.

"He's in critical condition, you'll have to make this quick."

"I make what I want of this," came the arrogant reply. Zaku felt himself smiling, despite himself. The bitch had probably come to brag. She'd won her match, and had come to gloat. Well he wasn't going to listen. He was playing dead.

"Can you leave us in peace?" Kin snapped again, and he heard the nurse sigh and step out of the room, muttering to herself.

Kin placed herself on the chair next to him, saying nothing.

He didn't move.  
They stayed like that for five minutes.

It was hard, thought Zaku, to stay this still when his entire body burned. His arms- his glorious arms, were throbbing chunks of meat at his side- numbed down by painkillers but not enough to stifle the itch and sting in his very _bones._

Suddenly, he wanted to punch Kin. What was she doing here, watching him suffer? Come to gloat, had she? Well he wasn't listening. He was playing dead, he wouldn't talk to her.

_Go away, Kin. Go away, you arrogant bitch._

Suddenly, without warning, she'd thrown herself across his chest. His eyes burst open against his will, his body convulsing. The pain, oh god, the pain.

She didn't see. She was sobbing.

His vision spun, settling on long, meticulously cared-for brown hair that was pooling across his bandaged body, and he saw, saw the wrappings around her head, the blood caked on the back of her skull.

"Oh, Zaku," she sobbed, and it disturbed him to see her like this. For some reason, he thought, if he could have lifted his arms, he would have put his hand on her head, perhaps run his fingers through her hair.

"Zaku, Zaku I lost. Oh, Zaku…"

This wasn't Kin, he thought. Kin would have laughed at his expense. She would have told him the match was rigged, her opponent was unfair, she wouldn't lower herself to this sniveling human mess.

He thinks he hears her murmur 'I love you' against his chest, and his mind goes blank. His eyes, once ones burning with hatred, now settle on the ceiling, dull and dead, his pride gone.

Suddenly, he wants to distance himself from her. To pull away, recoil from this girl who is not Kin but is, because who else could have those huge black eyes and that absurd purple bow in her absurd hair, and that pretty, pretty face, suddenly bleached white in fear.

But he can't move.  
He realizes, now, that he's never been playing dead. He _is_ dead, and no amount of begging will change that.


	2. SanninAnkoKonanNagatoYahiko innocent

Kay, this oneshot is slightly less depressing (or more, if you think about it) than the last one, but, anyway, it centers around Anko as she travels to rain with Orochimaru and Tsunade, who are trying to get Jiraya to come home. The pairings are YahikoKonanNagato and JirayaTsunadeOrochimaru, and suggested OroAnko.

-Anti ;D

* * *

It was raining. Two girls sat next to each other, their vibrant, cotton-candy colored hair meshing together. One handed the other a piece of paper, and she took it, looking at it dubiously. 

She was the youngest of the four children in the room- probably about eleven, while the others looked to be nearing fourteen in age. Her spiky, purple-brown hair and bright likecolored eyes would have made her stand out, were she not in a room with such bold looking individuals.

The girl next to her looked as though she had been immaculately carved from heaven. Her sky-colored hair and bright eyes, rather than dulling her face, made her look even more otherwordly.

Anko was just plain and boring.

The two boys who sat, huddled in the corner, were striking as well. One had bold orange hair and an extremely charismatic manner about him that made one want to listen to him, even though he was young and barely knew anything about the painful world he lived in.

His companion, in contrast, was quiet, but under his dark hair one could catch a glimpse of his swirling, target-like eyes.

And then, there was her sensei. He wasn't looking at them, but rather, the door, through which two elevated voices were audible, though what they were saying was questionable. He was relaxed- obviously the arguing of his two teammates was the norm for him, but he still looked ready to pounce any second, his cruel, slanted eyes narrowed and his dark hair hanging around him in an almost _protective_ manner.

A particularly loud string of shouts came through the door. This time, they could hear the woman's words carrying beyond the wooden barrier.

"YOU'D THINK YOU CARED MORE ABOUT US, JIRAYA! YOUR TEAMATES! DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF HELL IT'S BEEN, EXPLAINING THAT YOU JUST SO HAPPENED TO ADOPT A BUNCH OF ENEMY CHILDREN BACK IN RAIN COUNTRY AND WON'T BE COMING BACK FOR 'A FEW YEARS?'"

Mumbled response. Konan tenses next to her. She's rather meek, like the other boy, the one who only talks to his friend in the corner.. Anko finds it all very strange. When she feels something, she _says_ it.

"That lady scares me," Konan mumbles, folding her paper into thirds, as though she too, wishes she could fold up into little pieces and disappear into something else.

Anko's paper is crumpled. She's trying to make a crane, but has only succeeded in forming some abstract, crumply mess.

"Tsunade doesn't scare me," Anko said matter-of-factly. There are more shouts from the other side of the door. Tahiko looks rather angry, Nagato simply sinks further back.

_Weaklings._

"Is she really angry because of us?" Konan asks quietly, looking troubled. Anko thinks a little bit, before leaning in to whisper. At this moment, Orochimaru's face tilts ever so slightly in their direction.

"Sensei says it's because they love each other." She says as quietly as she can, which, for Anko, isn't quiet enough for Orochimaru not to hear. He tenses up and gives a smile that's rather like a grimace, though nobody can see it.

Anko doesn't understand love or hate. She doesn't understand a lot of things, he thinks. She's eager and childish and it only serves to amuse him.

"FINE THEN. GODDAMN IT, MAYBE _HE_ CAN TALK SOME SENSE INTO YOU!"

The door bursts open and the busty, red-faced woman gestures for Orochimaru to join them. He stands up, taking his time and stretching, much to her chagrin. Then the door is shut again.

The children in the room look rather shocked. Konan has finished yet another one of her flowers, this one looking like a complex white rose.

Nagato stands up, and Tahiko rushes to join him, looking wary.

He walks over to the girls, crouching down, his hair hanging over those creepy eyes Anko hates.

"That looks pretty, Konan," he says quietly, and she blushes, immediately thrusting the paper into his hands. He accepts it gently, looking surprised.

"It's for you," she explains unnecessarily. Tahiko makes a face. He's either jealous or annoyed, probably a mixture of both. He saves face by pointing at Anko's masterpiece.

"What is THAT?" he asks, pointing to what is now an elongated bunch of folds.

She throws it on the floor.  
"It's a snake," she says bitterly.

Konan hands her another paper.

"Origami is a delicate, patient art, Anko-san." She holds her hands over the other girl's and helps her through the movements.

* * *

They come back into the room, Jiraya looking worried, Orochimaru satisfied, Tsunade still fuming slightly. Anko wonders why she's such an angry woman. 

"We have a deal then. One year," the black-haired man says.

"Two years," Jiraya repeats in monotone.

"One year!" Tsunade says harshly.

"One year."

They two of them are moving in that way that says it's time to go. Anko stands up and waves goodbye to her new 'friends,' following behind the two Sannin warily. They're out the front door.

It's still raining. Anko holds a perfect white rose in her hands, and water droplets hit it cruelly. She tags behind, keeping her distance, careful not to upset them. She wonders if she should give it to him, like Konan did to Nagato. But Orochimaru's not soft like that.

But then, then he leans towards Tsunade, in such an unexpected and un Orochimaru-like manner and says

"When are you going to admit you love him?"

"When are _you_?" Tsunade snaps.


End file.
